From ISRO to selling tea: Let's talk about this aam-aadmi
What's the story
He worked in ISRO for a few years. He was also the topic of a training session meant for IIM-Ahmedabad faculty members and once sat on a professor's chair during a research presentation. Who's he? Well, he isn't any top-notch entrepreneur; he's a simple tea-seller, serving tea, greasy yet tasty omelets, buns and cigarettes to thousands of IIM-A students and teachers for 36 years.
Who is he
Meet Rambhai, serving tea to future tycoons for 36 years
Meet Rambhai Kori, owner of Rambhai's Kitli (RBK, for short), who sits 100meters away from IIM-A. His story is interesting, to say the least. In 1962, he had come to Ahmedabad from his village in UP along with his farmer father. Here he did his schooling and also enrolled in a technical diploma course, but due to family issues, had to leave it mid-way.
Chance visit
Itch to start his own business made him leave ISRO
He then worked at the premier space research institute as an electrician for sometime, but left it because "I wanted to do something on my own." For years, he could not find any suitable idea. Then suddenly the idea to open a tea stall struck him when he paid a chance visit to a paan shop outside IIM-A gates in 1982.
Journey
His tea stall is synonymous to an adda place
"It was all jungle. Road wasn't pucca even. There was just one paan shop and another selling snacks," recalls 60-year-old Rambhai. He took his chance and opened a tea stall. Since then, it has become synonymous to an adda place. Did you know few IIM-A graduates (2000 batch), who wanted to replicate Digg.com, opened a website after his name with a chai-cup as logo?
Information
When he couldn't pay his grandson's school-fees, IIM-A pooled in
In 2011, he couldn't pay fees for his grandson, who was admitted to Sainik School, Balachadi. So the class-X boy was sent back home. When some IIM-A students learnt about it, they collected Rs. 49,000 overnight.
He recalls
Made a presentation topic, Ram remembers every customer of his
For a faculty development Program in 2008, IIM-A had made a presentation on him titled 'RBK - A Role To Be Understood', where he had said then that he churns out 400 cups/day and still remembers his first customer, Omprakash Manchanda. In fact, he knows every customer by name and at times he's the first point of contact for anyone coming to IIM-A.